>>My 2018 Camry is a gadget bucket on wheels.
>>I've turned most of them off, but a couple are valuable additions.
>>Radar cruise control is awesome.
>>You set the speed and if the car in front you slows down, you slow down and maintain a constant distance. When that car isn't there any more you go back to the set speed. It's hard to imagine that that feature won't avoid some rear end accidents.
>
>I'm not sold on the radar cruise control yet - or for that matter anything that makes my vehicle auto-pilot.

I think aswitchable option to only nag with an alarm would be greeted by all.

> I don't even like regular cruise control -- frankly it seems more dangerous that simply driving the car at a proper speed yourself. If anything should happen it's going to take a person longer to react if they're using the cruise control as now your feet are possibly away from the peddles or the driver becomes less attentive since the car is doing part of the driving.

True. But as more speed limits are introduced in our Autobahn, I start to use it more often. No tickets there in the last 12 yeras, and none in Switzerland, where it could be expensive enough to put a dent into skiing budget ;-)

> Even ABS has problems -- I can stop a car faster in a shorter distance if it does NOT have ABS than if it does. On wet or otherwise slick driving conditions it can help -- but again if you actually know how to drive properly - then ABS is more of a hindrance than a solution. Not a big fan of traction control either as now you're limiting what the car can and can not do. When I bought my Lotus Elise I made sure I got one that is the only year avail in the USA without the traction control -- sure they have a button that you can turn it off with -- but it add's weight to the car and I would of never once turned it on. I dug into the wiring of the car and wired up a button that allows me to turn off the ABS system - and of course these cars don't even come with cruise control. All these gadgets lead to inattentive driving and causes drivers to not sharpen their skills. I guess sadly, in this day and age , the average driver's skill is so poor that they need these little gadgets or they speed on the highway, slam on the brakes to a skid while they're trying to turn - panic and don't think to pump the brake in the rain..etc etc etc.


I think ABS - if summed up in total - has more benefits. Braking on a straight lane in snow with ABS is safer as you cannot react fast enough if one side suddenly gets more traction and when inside a curve probably as well.